On Her Lazenby's Excellent Service
[spoilers follow]
There's a false note in Casino Royale, when Bond tells Vesper that he's sick of his life as a spy. The writers have forgotten that this is a reboot, and Bond has now only completed two missions. And has killed, I think, five people? Which is a lot for you and me, but for Bond, it's an afternoon's work.
In any case, by the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond has blithely killed hundreds in the films before and in this one. And we know this is not a reboot because of the slightly lame sequence where he finds mementoes in his drawer. And you might, were you inclined, wonder about all the wives he has left widows, the girlriends he has bereaved, and all done with just a quip to mark the passing of the men he's killed.
OHMSS is, it must be said, a weird book. Bond is quite clearly a sociopath yet here he is overwhelmed by emotion, not just at the very end, as he mourns Tracy, but as he falls in love with her. And weirder still, it is meaningless that she dies. Bond was already callous. He doesn't change for the experience. He doesn't become reflective. You're left wondering, why did Fleming kill Tracy?
Well, who knows what Fleming was trying to do, but he did it, and because at this point, the films tended to reflect the books quite closely, it's how the film is too. Which is bizarre, because it creates such a downbeat coda to a beautifully paced film, which builds up to a fine action film as it progresses.
The plot is the usual bollocks but it has an internal consistency and the characters are stronger than we've seen previously (or after, as it really was). There is no one in DAF for instance who is as menacing as Telly Savalas. And we had to wait for Eva Green for a Bond girl who was anything like as powerful as Diana Rigg's Tracy. The amazing thing is, all those women, all those bikinis, all that flesh and yet, the hottest women, the sexiest Bond girls are the smartest and most able. I wanted to marry Tracy as a kid and Vesper is my idea of perfection now.
And he much maligned George Lazenby is, it must be said, a lot better at the tamed ape than he is at the gorilla. Even so, it's a mystery why he was so hated by some. He's adequate in the action since he's at least a big man, and he's much stronger than you imagine Connery or Moore would be at the romance. He seems *real*. This is something Moore and Connery never aimed for. However, Lazenby doesn't hit the quips particularly well (and isn't tough enough for you to feel he ought not, like Dalton or Craig) and I suppose if you wanted to pick holes, the glaring Aussie accent doesn't work. I know Connery has an accent (which Bond certainly did not in the books) but he did Connery as Bond rather than Bond.
The action itself is superb. It's set up a mountain so there's a ski chase, driving on icy roads (including into a stock car derby), a bobsleigh chase, cable car hi jinks, everything really you can think of. There's one of those armed assaults they loved in early Bonds. It's never too much, never dull, and Tracy gets to drive in the best car chase. Twice.
It's beautifully shot, with a care that some later Bonds didn't bother to emulate, despite their glamorous locations. Everything looks delicious.
You've probably guessed by now that I really rate this film, and in fact, when I was a kid I loved it from the intriguing cold open, through the stirring theme, through the Hilary Bray stuff, which I found funny when I was a kid, to the amazing ratcheting tension and violence of the last reel. I even enjoyed the romance, partly because the device they used was to show Bond falling in love to the strains of All the time in the world. And you know what? It turns out I still love it. Okay, there's a couple of bits I wouldn't care for now (does Bond *have to* slap Tracy early in the film?) and a couple I didn't understand and now do (when Tracy tells her father she'll obey her husband just like she has her dad). The best plot, the best action, the best villain, the best Bond girl... okay, not the best Bond, but he's perfectly all right, and this is as good as Bond gets. A for awesome.
posted by Dr Zen @ 7:44 pm
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